Labor, Lib economic gaffes cap sittings

After being pursued by the coalition all week over its mining tax, the federal government has pounced on a perceived gaffe by the opposition leader on the company tax rate.

Tony Abbott on Thursday said he supported the existing rate, which is 30 per cent, leading Prime Minister Julia Gillard to ask if he had walked away from his proposed paid parental leave scheme.

"Everyone should pay the right amount of tax, and the right amount of company tax is the current rate," Mr Abbott told ABC radio.

The coalition's policy to impose a 1.5 per cent tax on Australia's biggest companies to pay for a paid parental leave scheme and the government has sought to link this plan to higher company tax rates.

"He doesn't even know his own tax policy - he has made a major gaffe," Ms Gillard told parliament.

"He needs to be explaining to the Australian people if the current amount of company tax is right, then how is he going to fund his paid parental leave scheme?"

The coalition has said if it was in government it would abolish the levy altogether once the budget position had been restored to strong surplus.

However, shadow treasurer Joe Hockey put Mr Swan on the spot when he pointed out in parliament the treasurer had mis-stated the current unemployment rate in an answer to a question.

Mr Swan was also forced to issue a clarifying statement after not directly answering, in an ABC radio interview, whether he would rule out personal income tax rises in the budget.

Despite his usual policy not to rule in or out any proposals in the lead-up to the federal budget, Mr Swan told parliament: "We will not be increasing personal income taxes."

But Mr Swan declined to rule out changes to the tax treatment of superannuation, which the coalition believes is inevitable.

Ms Gillard, who plans to release a major statement on industry policy next week, told parliament she wanted to see a more comprehensive economic debate in parliament "based on facts".

But Mr Hockey said the government was creating "uncertainty for business and consumers" by considering changes to superannuation and income tax to pay for major policies such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and extra money for schools.

The opposition has this week repeatedly called on the government to say whether or not it would alter the design of its mining tax, which has so far delivered less than expected revenue of $126 million.

Labor has responded that the 30 per cent tax on coal and iron ore super profits will deliver over the longer term, although it is in discussion with the states about the negative impact of state mining royalties on its revenue.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson said it was possible the budget cash balance for the financial year could be made known to voters before they go to the September 14 poll.

However, the final budget outcome report for 2012/13 - which would show the size of Labor's budget deficit - was unlikely to be released much before its September 30 deadline.

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